Recycling bank

Doesn't recycling use a lot of energy in transportation?

Collecting, sorting and transporting materials to a recycling point does use energy. But the more people who recycle, the more economical it becomes to recycle because the volumes of materials being transported are larger. If people pack recyclables into as small a volume as possible, this also makes the transportation more efficient.

Energy is used in sorting and processing recycled materials but this can be much less energy than is used in making the materials from scratch. Often re-processing puts fewer pollutants into the atmosphere.

We can reduce the energy used in transporting and recycling waste by buying fewer things that have unwanted packaging or a short life-span i.e. recycling less.

Do you want to learn more about how recycling is collected and sorted?